How GroWrk Saved OfferUp Hours Onboarding and Streamlined Device Retrieval

 The challenge

OfferUp expanded its contractor support to Latin America to take advantage of a more diverse pool for its workforce. The company had already devised a well-working system for procuring and shipping equipment to remote contractors within the US, but the process in Latin American countries faced significant challenges and obstacles. GroWrk was able to come in and help OfferUp overcome the challenges.  

We spoke to Michael Goldblatt, the IT and Internal Tools Manager at OfferUp about these challenges and how he approached them. 

OfferUp’s main challenges in providing equipment for their Latin American contractors were:

• Establishing an easy, replicable, and reliable process to equip remote contractors in Latin America.
• Finding vendors to source and deliver hardware to local contractors in country.
• Retrieving the equipment when contractors ended their support. 
• Identifying vendors that enroll devices into Apple Business Manager (ABM).

Typically, finding the right equipment for contractors would involve manual processes for Michael’s team, numerous back-and-forth emails with vendors, delayed deliveries, and most importantly, the inability to integrate devices into Apple Business Manager, an essential tool for remote device management. 

Unreliable equipment delivery could delay contractor onboarding, often causing friction with contractors providing their much-needed role. Additionally, retrieving equipment from remote employees who left the company could present challenges. 

 The solution

Michael evaluated a few different vendors, GroWrk stood out as the ideal choice due to its mature platform, tailored for streamlined IT asset procurement and management. GroWrk covers the full lifecycle of equipment from shipping to retrievals and disposal.

Unlike other solutions that OfferUp was also considering, GroWrk ticked all of the required boxes: 

• Fair pricing across the region for owned devices
• Integration with ABM
• Reliable delivery
• Centralized device lifecycle management at the click of a button
• Ability to retrieve and reuse equipment

Overall, OfferUp’s onboarding into GroWrk was a smooth experience. The company could easily import existing data about contractors across different countries and customize its catalog on a per-country basis.  

 The results

After implementing GroWrk, OfferUp reduced contractor onboarding times and established a more efficient process to recover and reuse equipment to avoid lost costs.

Specifically, notable process improvements after implementing GroWrk include: 

• Reduced time required to onboard contractors by up to four hours 
• Higher productivity in new contractors
• Recouped thousands of dollars in losses due to the ability to retrieve old equipment 
• No more late nights and very early mornings in order to manage multiple international vendors in various timezones
• One vendor and one timezone to manage IT equipment lifecycle processes
• Reduced stress and pressure on the OfferUp IT Management team

Over seven months with GroWrk, Michael's team saved a week's worth of work hours, allowing them to focus on core tasks like resolving support issues, rolling out new tools, and managing other SaaS applications.